Tuesday, June 30, 2009

After yesterday's frankly shocking revelations about Felicia Day and her high-handed sacking of her faithful minion Sean Becker, he has posted the following video response:

Is this the real Sean Becker?

My sources are split on whether this is the real Sean Becker or not - clearly this individual believes himself to be so (the YouTube name he posted this under is "iamseanbecker", which is pretty compelling proof). And the Twitterverse is alight with speculation about whether the fickle Ms Day has now withdrawn her previous hardline regarding Mr Becker and, by association, Urkel.

Will we yet see the apparently-famous (to people in the US) Urkel dance?

There is a groundswell of support for Sean and Urkel amongst the fans of The Guild. The pressure must be building on Ms Day to both reinstate the booted Becker and sanction the filming of the cast indulging in the harmless activity of dancing. One can only speculate that Ms Day, perhaps remembering her own shameful dancing past, fears she is not skilled enough to master the complex moves involved. Video evidence suggests this might be the case:

What will Sean do next?

Support by fans of The Guild will only get him so far. Perhaps he could take some time out and contemplate how other people have coping with being dismissed. Perhaps people such as Jason Danovan, the hero of my new novel "Turning Left at Albuquerque" which is currently being serialised as an audiobook at turningleft.podbean.com. Jason is a 37 year old geek and recovering computer games addict made redundant from his job on a cube-farm who applies to University online while drunk. Sean could probably learn a lot from him....

More Shocking Revelations! News just in - Sean Becker ISN'T fired?

The Twitterverse moves fast and a quick check on @feliciaday's twitter stream reveals this EVEN MORE SHOCKING tweet:

Who are these people spreading rumours? Why are they doing it? Is Sean really fired? Does anyone other than me and Dani care?

What will happen next?

Who knows what further sensational happenings will occur? @deliciafay is calling for action, and even @egspoony, so often the voice of reason and calm (er...) has been caught up in the maelstrom of tweet and counter-tweet. To paraphrase Bender/Coilette (from Futurama):

Monday, June 29, 2009

About two hours ago this milestone Tweet issued forth from the computer of Felicia Day. This only hours after she completed another grueling 14 hours on the set of Season 3. Perhaps she had one slice too many of the gorgeous birthday cake her boyfriend brought to the set that featured real doubloons harvested by some of Ms Day's many servants from a sunken Spanish galleon so she could play 'The Story of the World' with real pieces:

A video tribute from the fans

And even though a special video tribute from her fans, expertly edited by @maxsummers was featured on Felicia's blog yesterday in honour of her *cough*th birthday it didn't calm her down. When Felicia returned home from filming she saw what her fans had done and had this to say:

"OMG you guys! I...go...shoot...you..." (edited for space)

Has Season 3 tipped Red over the edge?

After the rip-roaring success of The Guild Season 1 and 2 - perhaps the most successful webseries about a dysfunctional set of online gamers ever made - the pressure to scale new heights for Season 3 has left Ms Day prone to sleepiness, paranoia and hypochondria. A quick look at her Twitter stream reveals a woman on the edge...

Known for her savage temper

Most people are too scared to speak up about the cruel treatment they have received at Ms Day's hands but a few brave souls have. @DeliciaFay, the long-term supporter of Ms Day, has hinted on her website of past violence. And Kim Evey, the beautiful and multi-talented producer of The Guild shared this with me in an interview last year:

EWoH: Is Felicia as mean as people say she is? KE: No, she is much meaner. You people have no idea. One time she ate a baby.

EWoH: Has she ever assaulted you personally? KE: She threw a thimble full of booze in my face.

And the recent #feliciadayrumors on Twitter were full of stories of her rampant ego and swift anger - who knows how many real incidents were masked behind the hashtag?

Who is Sean Becker?

Good question! Twitter, Facebook and The Guild Chat have frequently debated this very point. He is apparently the director and editor of Season 2 and now Season 3 of The Guild and the IMDb for him is impressive. But who is he, really? #iamseanbecker is a frequent meme on Twitter and now some joker has registered http://www.facebook.com/iamseanbecker on Facebook. Perhaps we will never know the truth about the person behind the name of the person behind the shock firing of a person by Felica Day today. Or something. But it could be this person:

Hopes for Season 3

With Season 3 of The Guild so near to completion we can only pray that whatever prompted Felicia to fire Sean can be repaired, and quick. Reports of new waves of Guild Deficiency Syndrome are sweeping the nation and we MUST have our next fix. Must have....more Guild...more Guild...more...

SENSATIONAL SAGA CONTINUES!

After the traumatic Tweet the sock-waves continue - read the next installment and SEE Sean Becker's stunning video response!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

I had the best alert this morning - Google telling me that "Turning Left at Albuquerque" had been typed onto the Interweb somewhere! And sure enough the link took me to a review of the Turning Left podcast.

The sexy librarian

As Karnatos points out, we have known each other for over a year, and that's entirely Felicia Day's fault (so many things are!). We've chatted in The Guild chat, conversed on Friendfeed, caught up via Skype Chat and follow each other on Twitter. When I tweeted I was going to do a podcast of the book Karnatos was interested because he listens to audiobooks on his commute. He is also a blogger of some note on Always Go Right and the subjects he discusses range from The Guild and Whedonverse shows, gamer stuff, Star Wars, Lego, YouTube videos....okay he's a big geek like me!

Er, what about the librarian thing?

Writing and then podcasting has taken so much of my time recently that I've not been hanging around in my usual haunts or blogging as frequently as I used to. Trying to find an agent and actually working out how I can make a career out of writing is a long process. Part of that process has to be finding ways to promote what I have done. I am really grateful to Karnatos for taking the time to do this review, because it's exactly to sort of thing that will help. I didn't ask him to do it - it's something he has done because he enjoys the podcasts. Knowing that someone enjoys your work so much that they bother to listen to it (more than once!) and then review it is a pretty big boost.

Really - what gives with the sexy librarian?!?

So I hope you'll pop over and read what he has to say. And take a look around while you're over there. There are tons of great articles and probably some things you haven't seen before like Quake Radio and a staged production of "Once More With Feeling..."

TELL ME ABOUT THE LIBRARIAN!!!

Oh - you wanted to know about the sexy librarian thing? Well....you'll have to ask Karnatos. He's on Twitter and he'll be happy to answer your questions....probably.... :D

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

As we once again thank the 'Verse for Joss, thought turn towards how he might celebrate this, his *cough* birthday. I'd like to think that Joss will be eating cake and perhaps imbibing a glass or two of his favourite tipple. He's had an incredibly busy year or so and deserves a day to relax and reflect. And so, I present for you a selection of cakes fit for the Master:

Now there are some pictures of Serenity cakes floating around (!) according to Whedonesque which I couldn't find and also there's apparently one on greatwhitesnark.com but the site appears to be down at the moment. I have sent a couple of emails so if I hear anything I will get back to you.

Are you going to a CSTS screening?

The Vancouver screening is this Saturday, June 27th and I can't wait! Last year was a great event and not only will I be able to meet up with some great BC Browncoats, some special friends are flying in that I can't wait to meet, too. If you want to know more about CSTS, why people organise and attend these charity events each year, and where the money goes, there is all the information on the Can't Stop the Serenity website.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

If the answer to any of these (or any other affliction currently assailing you) is yes then the problem is most likely to be GDS (Guild Deficiency Syndrome). It's sweeping the globe faster than swine flu and is almost as potent. Read on to find out more about this debilitating condition and what you can do to protect yourself against its onslaught.

Symptoms

These include fatigue, loss of interest, restlessness, waning enthusiasm for everything (even the Internet!), weight gain, weight loss, spots, freckles, shouting "Vorktanimo" at strangers....These are just a few of the many, many symptoms of GDS.

A Doctor testing something.

Causes

First documented last year, scientists believe that these disparate symptoms are all part of a single condition, GDS. After baffling the lab geeks for a several weeks, an alpha geek realised that he, too, was suffering from the same symptoms. After stringent self-testing and cross referencing with available data Dr H, as we will call him, came to the unshakeable conclusion that it was directly caused by the lack of new episodes of The Guild. The data showed that between the end of Season 1 and the beginning of filming of Season 2 there was a massive increase in the number of geeks calling the 1-800-ihavetoomuchtimeonmyhandsandhavesearchedallthemedicalwebsitesandthinkimreallyillforsure

nerdline.

Diagnosis.....GDS

Doctor H developed a simple test to confirm whether a patient is suffering from GDS. Subjects were wired up to brain scans and shown a series of images. All those subjects reporting GDS symptoms showed massive brain activity when exposed to images from The Guild - yet failed to show any noticeable brain activity at any other time. Proof, Dr H concludes, that The Guild, or more accurately the lack of The Guild, is to blame.

The Guild Season 2 DVD cover

Cure

While there is no actual cure, Dr H did suggest some ways to relieve the symptoms. These steps will give temporary relief and should be repeated as many times as necessary to enable the sufferer to have some semblance of a normal life.

Dr H is at pains to point out that reducing your exposure to The Guild to the levels prescribed above might be too little, too soon. He recommends that if, for whatever awful reason, you have to be away from your computer or DVD player that wearing a Guild teeshirt and holding a bobble-headed Edgar can relieve some symptoms temporarily.

Support groups

Watchtheguild.com has updates, all the episodes and some bonus videos online. You will be able to find support from fellow Guildies (as sufferers call themselves) on The Guild Community website. Here you can set up your own account and chat with like-minded individuals on weighty matters of the day: is Sandeep a zombie, does Felicia really turn up on set swearing and drunk, and will there be a DDR dance-off between Codex and Stupid Tall Hot Girl...

Hope for a cure?

Dr H was optimistic that once Season 3 starts shooting sufferers will find their symptoms lifting: "We found that last year, when Season 2 started production, calls to the helpline lessened as people started to anticipate the coming season. And I - and I mean they - felt more able to sleep at night without worrying about when I - they - would get a new fix."

Felicia Day - all her fault?

While it would be all too easy to lay the blame squarely at the young multi-talented, award-winning writer/creator/actor/producer surely we can't blame her completely? Dr H, disagrees: "No - it's completely all down to her. Sure - Kim, Sandeep, Jeff, Amy, Robin, Vincent, Edgar, Dani - all played their parts, but really it's all down to her. She never knew what depths I had, what a glorious future we could have..." At this point the Dr appeared to remember he'd left a bunsen on somewhere and hurried away. With all the work he's been up to recently, helping the victims, working on a cure, it's not surprising he's a little distracted. It has obviously been a huge strain because when he left the offices and saw a large, dark horse that happened to be intently watching the building for no apparent reason, he started violently and ran away shouting obscenities. Poor guy. GDS must really have a hold on him.